For the Cleveland, Ohio dancer simply known as Murkyy, his immense success at this early stage of his career doesn’t compare to the importance of dance itself in his life. “I really wasn’t doing much before dance. I discovered it when I was going through a big life transition anyway,” he stated. “It was offered to me as an alternative to the road I was going down. It was really fun, and it still is.”
Learning to Dance
He remembers coming up in dance in Cleveland at a great time. “Dance in the city back then was all the craze. It was same time as the birth of Elevated (a nationally renowned professional contemporary training and performance company) in 2015 and the city was filled with dance crews. Everyone needed to dance all the time. I would get home from school and couldn’t wait to dance with Zay (Irving, one of Murkyy’s mentors and closest friends) and others,” recollected Murkyy, who remembers the very day he began dancing, June 25, 2015.
“I watched Chris Brown and Michael Jackson videos. I had no affinity to dance and had a pacing problem. I started loading up on dance knowledge after my freshman year of high school. Everyone had a dance name, so I made up the name Murk. Dance just became something I did at first, but it developed into something I wanted to do, loved to do, became obsessed with, and then something I couldn’t see my life without. I joke with Zay that I am not good at anything else (while he is good at everything) and that I am really competitive even though I’m not good at anything but dance,” he laughed.
Murkyy (which his dance name morphed to) acknowledged that dance developed from hardship in his upbringing. “I grew up with my grandmother and then as a teenager, my little brother and I moved in with our mom, while our older brother moved in with his dad. That meant I was living with a parent who I barely knew,” he reflected. “I was facing a lot of trouble at school, and someone asked me, ‘What do you see beyond this for yourself? You can go to college, play sports, even dance.’ I literally stopped and thought dance seemed fun. At the time, I had nothing in my body for dance. I look back at my starting videos and it’s crazy to see. It shows that with enough hard work, you can do it.”
Though this June will mark 10 years since he took up dancing, Murkky remembers those early days well. “I haven’t forgotten where I came from, the long nights in the studio. Like most people, I don’t post videos of me being terrible on social media. I struggled like everyone else,” he pointed out. “10 years ago, I had little to no rhythm in my dance or my life. That’s my testimony. There are times I felt less than because I had no feel for dance, but I guess it didn’t matter that much.”
When Love Becomes Work
Over time, Murkyy found the pure joy of dance was hard to sustain. “I kept hearing from OG’s (a commonly used term in dance to describe older/original dancers who often paved the way for younger generations), ‘Just wait until you get a taste of the real world.’ I had to make decisions about whether to go to school to do what I don’t want to do or really lean into my craft and find work to sustain myself. At some point, dance shifted into being more of a job for me,” he communicated. “Your mental health is affected when your passion turns into a job. I was hit hard by the lack of preparation I had for that happening.”
Reflecting on those moments, he gives young dancers the advice he wishes he had been given at that age. “I tell kids to breathe, to take their time in their journey, that dance will always be there. It has been around for centuries. Dance can remain fun, but you also must find a balance in life,” he recommended.
He models seeking help when he is struggling mentally and emotionally. “There are times when it gets to be too much, and I can’t dance it out. I have learned to talk to a therapist. When I feel like I need a session, I waste no time in getting it, no matter where I am physically at the time. I don’t wait until I get back home,” he explained. “When I sought out help for the first time with a therapist, it worked for me, so I continued. I recommend anyone how is an artist to have a therapist. It truly opens so much to have someone who allows you to be in a truly judgment free zone.”
I understand when people ask why they would share their innermost thoughts with someone they don’t know, but it is an opportunity to tell someone anything, knowing they won’t share it with anyone else.
Another helpful aspect to strengthening his mental health has been to strong, honest friendships. “It is important to surround yourself with people who will tell you the truth, good and bad. I stress that with my friends, to let me know if they see something in my dance or my life that isn’t working. D’Andre (Nero the Professor, co-founder of Chicago-based The Kastle) really takes that to heart,” he chuckled. “I don’t usually respond well to tough love, but it works for me with him because we have built that type of honest relationship.”
Murkyy has a particularly close friendship with fellow World of Dance champion Kid Nimbus from Chicago. “We talk all the time. We go through similar things. I always lean into my friends like him. We have these full transparent moments where we get down to bare bones,” he communicated. “Those are things you can’t share on the internet. A lot of people weaponize things you post against you, which is sad to say. I am usually only transparent on social media about my art. That is where people can step into my world.”
Mentoring
“You have to understand how to do be a good listener and be coachable,” Murkyy suggested as to how to get better. “Sam Mac (Sam McIntosh, founder of Cleveland’s 10K Movement) is my mentor, and he always tells me I am coachable. He gives me material to go over, and I pride myself on understanding the critiques I receive from him and my other mentors in The Kastle. Sometimes I feel like I am abusing a move and so I change it up. Every time I win a tournament, I change my dancing up. That may have worked for that event, but it may not work for the next one. It is critical to constantly be evolving to remain at a high level.”
A high level is a place Murkyy has achieved multiple times already in his career. He won his World of Dance title in 2022. “I wanted that for so long and set it as a personal goal. There were times I wanted to quit dance because it was just not enough for me,” he shared. “I fought so hard to regain my love for the sport and this art form that I originally fell in love with. I can proudly say that I am glad I kept going because it cemented that the hard work finally paid off and it was really good for the kid in me who started to dance in 2015.”
He had continually improved in his World of Dance appearances from not making it out of the preliminary round in 2019 and lost in the top 32 the following year. He made a huge jump to make the top four in 2021 before winning in 2022. Murkyy has also been extremely successful at 10K Movement’s feature event, Lords of the Land, becoming the first open styles champion in the international competition’s first event in 2021 and advancing to event finals in 2022 and 2024.
Yet it was back-to-back titles in 10K Movement’s first two Crobar Battle Circuit series’ that elevated his perspective about his impact on his city. “Winning Crobar made me realize that I am standing for more in the city than I had realized. That was for the city. The final night was reminiscent of the dance battles we used. That energy alone reminded me of how it used to be,” he recalled.
While he continues to be mentored, he sees the importance of him taking on a leadership role. “I want to get to the point in my journey where I can be that mentor to this generation and be equipped enough to help them through the same things I have been through,” stated Murkyy, who has been mentoring a Cleveland dancer Demar McCombs, known in dance as Mar the Prodigy, whose dance is continually reaching new heights. “I talk to him a lot and to try not to lean into results so heavily. We can all get really stressed about battles, so I encourage him to just make sure he is having fun. Sometimes we get so caught up in performance and focus on trying to win every battle.”
As much as he loves battling and has had great success, Murkky emphasizes that it is not without its difficulties. “The battle culture can really suck in terms of mental health and camaraderie. It is very self-centered on your own performance, so you have to make a conscious effort to become friends with more thoughtful guys like Nimbus,” he reported.
We all want to win, but it must be OK when we don’t. It is the freedom of dance that will elevate you. There are times you feel like you need to break your leg over your head to get a ‘wow moment’ in a battle, but if we breathe through the process and focus on the joy of dance, we can have a better outlook, a clearer mind and soul. It is about the environment and who you surround yourself with.
The Importance of Community Dance
Murkyy is encouraged by the way things are moving in the local dance community after some stagnant times. “Just as we want to have a clear mind and soul as dancers, we should seek that as a dance community. There were times when the Cleveland community seemed really set in its ways and I was longing for those days of prominence in the city when we would have 2v2 battles every weekend, Artistic Rebels was holding battles and events, and there would be huge krump sessions with 50 people at Paul’s (Cleveland legendary krumper and teacher Paul Carpenter) house. I knew that people and seasons change, but I hearkened back to those days when I was down.”
“I have seen damaged dance communities, and I always still loved the Cleveland dance community. It takes time, but it can grow into even better than what it was before with the right leaders stepping up,” he commented. “We have seen how people like Sam Mac (with 10K Movement), Zay (representing Cleveland all over and running huge events like Brutal City), and people like Keith (Benford, who dances as Bridges), who ran regular sessions when we desperately needed them. Those kinds of weekly sessions never happened before, where we had a chance to just go and express ourselves once a week.”
10K Movement has begun running weekly teaching sessions in addition to its regular training and major events like Lords of the Land and Crobar Battle Circuit. Classes for various dance disciplines are becoming more and more active in Cleveland. Elevated continues to be a force in teaching and competing, and Artistic Rebels is coming back in 2025, returning with “The Battle Cypher” on Saturday, May 24th. Murkky got his start in dancing with Artistic Rebels headed by Darian Stitt. It was there he met Zay and Carlo Fowler (Jr. Angel) among others, the two he has danced with for the longest period.
“Just as we as dancers must switch things up, the dance community has to do the same, and we are seeing that now,” expressed Murkyy. “It is what Carlo and I call style change. When there are aspects of our dance that are not working, we break ourselves down and rebuild. It is a strenuous process, but it is rewarding when you find that new groove. That is where Cleveland dance is now.”
